Young Charlotte (Frozen Girl) sheet music for Treble Clef Instrument

Young Charlotte (Frozen Girl)

Young Charlotte (Frozen Girl)

Young Charlotte lived by the mountainside in a cold and dreary spotNo other dwelling for miles around, except her father's cotAnd yet, on many a winter's eve, young swains would gather thereFor her father kept a social board and she was very fair

Her father loved to see her dressed prim as a city belleShe was the only child he had and he loved his daughter wellIn a village some fifteen miles off there's a merry ball tonightThough the driving wind is cold as death their hearts were free and light

And yet how beams those sparkling eyes as the well-known sound she hearsAnd dashing up to her father's door, young Charles and his sleigh appears"Oh, daughter dear," her mother says, "those blankets round you foldFor it is a dreadful night to ride and you'll catch your death of cold"

"Oh nay, oh nay," young Charlotte said, and she laughed like a gypsy queen"To ride with blankets muffled up one never would be seen"Her gloves and bonnet being on, she stepped into the sleighAnd away they rode by the mountain side and it's o'er the hills and away

There's music in those merry bells as o'er the hills we goWhat a creaking noise those runners make as they strike the frozen snowAnd muffled faces silent are as the first five miles are passedWhen Charles with few and shivering words the silence broke at last

"What a dreadful night it is to ride. My lines I scarce can hold"When she replied in a feeble voice, "I am extremely cold"Charles cracked his whip and urged his team far faster than beforeUntil at length five other miles in silence were passed o'er

"Charlotte, how fast the freezing ice is gathering on my brow"When she replied in a feeble voice, "I'm getting warmer now"And away they ride by the mountain side beneath the cold starlightUntil at length the village inn and the ballroom are in sight

When they drove up, Charles he got out and offered her his hand"Why sit you there like a monument that hath no power to stand?"He asked her once, he asked her twice but she ansHe offered her his hand again, but still she never stirred

[And there he sat down by her side while bitter tears did flowAnd cried," My own, my charming bride, 'tis you may never know."He twined his arms around her neck, he kissed her marble brow,His thoughts flew back to where she said,"I'm growing warmer now."]*

He took her hand into his own, twas cold as any stoneHe tore the veil from off her face and the cold stars on her shoneAnd quick into the lighted hall her lifeless form he boreFair Charlotte was a frozen corpse and a word she ne'er spoke more

He took her back into the sleigh and quickly hurried homeAnd when he came to her father's door oh how her parents moanedThey mourned the loss of their daughter dear while Charles wept o'er their gloomUntil at length, Charles died of grief and they both lay in one tomb

sung by Margaret MacArthurprinted in Folk Songs Out of Wisconsinmay be based on an incident in February 1840DT #637Laws G17* additional verse and tune "YNGCHARL" from American Songbag, Sandburg RGplay.exe YNGCHARL.2SOF